IAMAI supports net neutrality; opposes differential pricing

The net neutrality debate has picked up for the third time after TRAI released paper, and Facebook began campaigning aggressively for Free Basics.Neha Alawadhi | ET Bureau | Updated: December 30, 2015, 13:33 IST

NEW DELHI: The Internet and Mobile Association of India, the industry body which includes members such as Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and LinkedIn, said differential pricing violates net neutrality, in response to a consultation paper released by the telecom regulator earlier this month.

"In addition to being against net neutrality, the differential pricing models suggested by TRAI prima facie also violate the regulators own stated principles of intervening in pricing."

These principles as stated in the paper releaser by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India are non-discriminatory, transparent, non-anti competitive, non-predatory, non-ambiguous and non-misleading.

"Most of the models suggested by TRAI seem to violate one or all of these principles", Ray said.

The debate around net neutrality has picked up for the third time in India after TRAI released this paper, and Facebook began campaigning aggressively for its Free Basics offering which aims to bring unconnected Indian people online. It has drawn flak for being misleading and abusing its market dominance.

Ray suggesting two alternatives to a practice such as Free Basics: investing in infrastructure for common access and providing subsidized and non-discriminatory access directly to the consumers.

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